FIGS. 1 and 2 show an example of a conventional connector provided with a lock and unlock mechanism, which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid Open (Kokai) No. 62-22381.
In these drawings, the connector is composed of a male connector housing a and a female connector housing d. The male connector housing a is formed with a flexible locking arm b and an arch-shaped lock guard portion c. The flexible locking arm b is further formed with a locking projection b.sub.1 and an arch-shaped unlocking portion b.sub.2. On the other hand, the female connector housing d is formed with a lock pawl portion e.
Therefore, when the male connector housing a is inserted into the female connector housing d as shown in FIG. 2, since the locking projection b1 is engaged with the lock pawl portion e, the two male and female connector housings a and d are locked to each other. On the other hand, when the arch-shaped unlocking portion b2 is pushed down, since the locking projection b1 is disengaged from the lock pawl portion e, the two male and female connector housings a and d are unlocked from each other. Here, the arch-shaped lock guard portion c serves to prevent the locked conditions of both the locking projection b1 and the lock pawl portion e from being released inadvertently by an unexpected force.
In the conventional connector provided with the lock and unlock mechanism as described above, however, when the connector is required to be unlocked within a narrow or limited space within an automotive vehicle, since the arch-shaped lock guard portion c is present, there exists a problem in that it is not easy to unlock the connector by the worker's fingers. In other words, it has been difficult to push the unlocking portion b2 from above in the transversal direction of the connector housings within a narrow and small space, for removal of the male connector housing a form the female connector housing d.